|
Make a Donation
January 13, 2021 |
Note from the Assistant Managing Editor:
"An End...and a Beginning." Our reflection this week is a beautiful prayer with which to start the new year. Our first article of note is an excerpt from Cardinal Pell's Prison Journal. Even in the short selection we have permission to reprint, you'll learn that Cardinal Pell chose between the priesthood and a professional (and promising football) career — and then in a few short sentences move on from these personal tidbits to deeper reflections: "Fear of the Lord is not approved of by the progressive wing, because God is so loving, understanding, and all-forgiving. They do not always join these sentiments with the obvious premise that one needs to repent before God can forgive." Alexander Solzhenitsyn's "Live Not By Lies" is a clarion call to truth. "In our timidity, let each of us make a choice: Whether consciously, to remain a servant of falsehood — of course, it is not out of inclination, but to feed one's family, that one raises his children in the spirit of lies — or to shrug off the lies and become an honest man worthy of respect both by one's children and contemporaries." What will you choose? I also enjoyed David Carlin's "Taste, Manners, Morals," in which he discusses the interdependence of the three, an important point in a world that has rejected most moral underpinnings. As an example: "If we are to have good manners with regard to women, we must have good manners generally. We must not be boorish with regard to men or women. If we insist on the light imperative, 'Be a gentleman,' we'll have more success with the heavy imperative, 'Don't commit rape.'" To end on a fun note, Dale Ahlquist writes on the "100th Anniversary of G. K. Chesterton's first visit to America." "He offered a critique of his good friend, H.G. Wells, whose recently published Outline of History ... seriously [asserted] that Man ... in his early stages, clubbed women on the head and dragged them off to be their mates. Chesterton said there was absolutely no evidence for this whatsoever [and] asked his audience, 'If primitive men were so rude, why were primitive women so refined?'" God bless you all this week! - Meaghen Gonzalez |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Web version of this CERC Weekly Update here
Previous CERC Weekly Update here
Subscribe/unsubscribe here
Visit the CERC website at www.catholiceducation.org
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
New Resources
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Editorials of Interest How one Welsh priest brought Our Lord to empty streets - NC Register
Remembering a 2020 Corpus Christi procession and the mission of a clergyman. Mass in time of Covid: what 2020 revealed - Catholic Culture
When a crisis strikes, we reveal what is important to us, as individuals and as a society. We as a society clearly do not believe in the power of prayer; we don't consider religion essential. The Coming Covid-19 Vaccine with Dr. Theresa Deisher - YouTube
There are few topics that hit emotional buttons as vaccinations. The internet is awash with pro-vaccines vs anti-vaccines arguments. And if you add in the whole CCP Virus as a background, you have a perfect storm of controversy. Hope Against Hope - The Catholic Thing
True Hope, the belief that "tomorrow things will go better," can only be about our final human destiny, because in the short run things always look and are pretty awful. Identity and Catholicism - CWR
If you don't believe in essential human nature, why believe human beings are something special? Why not make the way you treat them, like everything else, a matter of power and expediency? Ten Tips to Conquer the Sin of Envy - Catholic Exchange
Envy can literally destroy us as well as countless others if it is not recognized, resisted, rejected and conquered through the grace of God and our own determination. When tempted to sin, follow St. Francis de Sales' advice - Aleteia
Here are a few practical tips on how to overcome temptation. Is your debate style passionate or poisoned? - Patheos
Fundamentally, a confident and competent Catholic writer addresses ideas and facts without ever casting doubt on the infinite worth of the person made in the image and likeness of God. America's History of Political Violence - First Things
Political violence is indeed part of the "true America," an undeniable share of "who we are." Don't Feed the Trolls - Crisis Magazine
Like many of her fellow lefties, Nancy Pelosi is a troll. I'm not talking about her looks; I'm talking about her clever use of deliberately inflammatory behavior that serves only one purpose: to keep the enemy (that's us) riled up about a problem that doesn't exist. On genderless language in the U.S. Congress - Mercatornet
The language police have arrived in the U.S. Congress, striking at natural conceptions of the family. Pope changes law so women are allowed to perform tasks in mass - The Guardian
Decision means Catholic church is 'recognising accepted practices' around the world. We Laugh, They Rule - First Things
Do we laugh with confidence that the American people will, in time, overcome such manifest lunacy? Or is it, rather, the bitter laughter familiar to peoples long accustomed to enduring absurd rule? The Netflix Effect: Corrosive Storytelling and the Human Person - Public Discourse
The Netflix adaptation of The Queen's Gambit and the original version are based on two radically different visions of the human person. They bring the reader or viewer to one of two endpoints: either we recognize the importance of making the best choices and inherit a position of moral responsibility, or we face the despair of living in a world without moral agency. How Our Lady of Guadalupe is a mother to all mothers - Aleteia
Especially during the months of pregnancy, Our Lady walks the road beside us so we know we are not alone. St. John Henry Cardinal Newman and St. Justin Martyr, pray for us | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
